Progress
by Songstone
Summary: To achieve perfection, practice must ensue. Nothing ever starts off without problems. Perfection is achieved only as time progresses. -Kisame and Itachi's partnership from beginning to end. Will become KisaIta. Plus a little twist.-
1. Chapter 1

**Progress**

**Chapter 1: Introduction**

**- - -**

When Itachi was introduced to Kisame as his new partner, Kisame laughed.

Itachi just stared as the man chortled and shook his head in disbelief. The young Uchiha waited patiently and silently as Kisame slowly got his breath back and looked to Akatsuki's leader, seeming to be ignoring Itachi.

"This kid?" The ex-Kiri nin exclaimed, his features lit with amusement and skepticism. "He can't be older than fourteen!"

Itachi blinked passively. "I'm twelve."

At this, the swordsman burst into another small bout of cackles, and he glanced at Itachi out of the corner of his eye briefly before facing his leader once more. "He's not even a teenager!" He revelled in this idea, shaking his head and chuckling dryly once and a while.

Pein's expression just about screamed for Kisame to straighten out and act serious. He wasn't impressed with the man's outburst of laughter, obviously. Itachi wasn't either, but chose to remain silent and allow Pein to explain.

"Itachi might be young, but he's an exceptional ninja." The orange haired elitist began. "He's from Konoha's Uchiha clan, and a well-practiced Illusionist. His Sharingan can cast genjutsu like your mind wouldn't even be able to comprehend. He can capture you in one of his illusions and kill you with one single glance into your eyes." Pein's expression shifted almost unnoticably. He didn't smile, but the air around him now swirled with pride that the Akatsuki would now have the young prodigy. "He's slaughtered his entire clan in one night. Now, age is no factor in this equation; Itachi's strong, and he will be a valuable asset to Akatsuki. Straighten up, Kisame, and get going. And take your new partner with you. Get to know him and try not to piss him off. I don't want him killing you."

Pein was gone rather quickly after that, the cloud of smoke he left behind him slowly clearing into the atmosphere, allowing Itachi and Kisame to stare across the distance at each other clearly.

Kisame's face was twisted into a deep frown, and he regarded Itachi with a snarl and a quick narrowing of the eyes in distaste. Itachi just blinked back at him casually.

Kisame had not much appreciated being told that a pre-teen that reached his mid-rif at full height could kill him so easily. No one liked being underestimated; expecially one with as much background and skill as Kisame. Itachi understood this much, but still wished that Kisame would get over his indignation quickly since he was only wasting time glaring at Itachi for something the child couldn't help.

Finally, with a grunt and a heavy swing of his arm, Kisame was shouldering the weight of a great sword, tapping one blue index finger against its hilt. He looked Itachi up and down for a few seconds, then secured his sword to his back. "I guess it can't be helped..." He turned on his heel abruptly, jerking his head for Itachi to follow him as he stalked off at a quick-legged pace. "Come on then, boy. I won't wait around for you if you're slow, and it's not my problem if you get lost."

Itachi once more merely blinked, watching Kisame's retreating back for a while before beginning to follow after him, keeping pace just enough to be walking in the man's shadow. Their first meeting hadn't gone smoothly, but Itachi could deal with being underestimated. That only meant that the Uchiha would have something to prove, and having something to strive for almost made this whole arrangement something to look forward to.

The only thing that was bothering Itachi was the fact that both Kisame and Pein reffered to her as a _boy_.

Eyes shifting down briefly, Itachi examined her chest. She was only twelve, and of course her body hadn't developed much as of yet, but nevertheless, she had been quite insulted when both men had failed to read her true gender.

Was it because she wasn't very pretty?

Her eyebrows met together for just a second before her expression smoothed over again. Looks mattered very little, she decided. This appeased her more vainglorious side, which had left her feeling jilted after having her gender mis-read. But really, what did it matter if they assumed her to be male? It was frustrating to have a repeat of her childhood in Konoha, but in the end it wouldn't make a difference.

In her mind, Itachi pondered why everyone always assumed her to be male. Even her parents had slipped up and called her 'he' once and a while. Eventually, they, and Itachi as well, simply stopped correcting people when they mistook her for a boy. Let them believe as they pleased. Looks and gender hardly matter when you're respected as a child prodigy and ANBU captain anyway. Your skills are still the same, male or not.

Itachi stepped over a small gathering of wildflowers as they grew along the path that Kisame was leading her through. The man ahead of her trampled over whatever living plant was in his way. The contrast was striking between them, and Itachi was almost ready to sigh in frustration. How would she cope with having such a brash, hulking, barbarian of a partner?

In the end she didn't make a sound as she padded after Kisame, her footfalls silent. There wasn't much choice to her arrangements. She would just have to adjust to Kisame, and him to her.

It doesn't matter, she decided then, if he thinks I'm a boy.

Itachi really had no interest in correcting any more people about her gender, least of all the swordsman before her. Either he would discover this fact on his own, or he never would. Whichever way it played out, Itachi really couldn't care less. She was stuck in his shadow as they walked, however, and that was something that she could not allow to go on much longer.

She was going to have to prove her worth, and soon, and step out from Kisame's shadow. She wasn't going to follow, but accompany. She would not be stuck staring at Kisame's back as he led her this way and that, barking orders at her like she was some rookie.

Firmly nodding, Itachi quickened her pace, following closer next to Kisame. She was still in his shadow even in her new position, but, she reminded herself in her head, she wouldn't be walking there all that much longer.

**- - -**

**Sorry if you don't like the twist! I couldn't help it. I always thought that this would make Kisame and Itachi's partnership so much more interesting.**

**Anyway, there will be more chapters after this. I have one finished already, and the last in the works. So hopefully I'll update soon.**

**R&R, please.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Progress**

**..::..  
**

**Chapter two! Skipping ahead a few years, though. I wanted to write something between the last chapter and this one, but nothing really significant struck me. So I'll just post this one and see how you all like it. xD**

**Enjoy!**

**..::..**

**Chapter 2: Cycle  
**

Itachi was eighteen, and she was dying.

Or so she thought. The sight of blood staining her sheets and coating her legs was alarming, and Itachi had experienced a moment of panic when she awoke to its coppery color that morning. She wrestled with her sheets and finally freed herself from their oppressive limbs, leaping onto her feet and standing poised over her bed, Sharingan spinning into alertness. Looking down onto the bloodied mattress and sheets, Itachi's eyes narrowed, and her hands began to search her own body for any signs of injury. There was no possible way that she could be wounded. Itachi was trained to sleep lightly, and she would have reacted to anyone entering her room and harming her.

Unless she was sedated? Had someone slipped something into her drink, or food? She thought long and hard; had she eaten or drank anything strange? No, she hadn't. She and Kisame had stopped for the night at an Inn, but they hadn't eaten anything during their stay thus far. And the only thing Itachi had had to drink was water from the tap in her room. Unless the perpetrator had poisoned the whole town's water supply, this wasn't possible.

Not to mention the fact that if someone had attacked her in the night, shouldn't she be dead? Why would they only wound her instead of killing her? None of this was making any sense to Itachi, and her mind swirled with questions and suspicions, but none of them seemed to fit into the whole equation. She was mildly panicking now, hands frantic as she tore off her clothing and ran her fingers over her bare skin. There were no wounds on her body as far as she could see. But then where was she bleeding from?

Itachi paused the inspection of her mid-riff when she was suddenly aware of something sliding down the inside of her thigh. Alarmed by this sensation, Itachi's eyes dropped down to herself, and she simply stared as a stream of bright red blood dribbled down her inner thigh, coasting over the bump of her knee and calf and pooling around her foot as it finally dripped off of her and hit the ground.

Remaining frozen in her sudden realization, Itachi was only able to blankly gape as more blood branched off of the first stream and slid down her legs in rivulets of crimson.

An expression which might be closely related to embarrassment showed on Itachi's face as she frowned and slowly relaxed herself from her frozen stupor. Spreading her legs against the sudden wet discomfort between them, Itachi bent and looked, and realized that she had been a fool.

Her mother had warned her about this day. She had told her that it would be the day that she would truly become a woman. Well, if this was the oh-so-anticipated day that her mother had always bragged about, then Itachi didn't like it.

Menstruation was messy, and painful. Now that Itachi had stilled and realized what the cause of the bloodied sheets was, she became aware of a steadily building ache in her lower abdomen. She wasn't sure what to make of the feeling. It wasn't pleasant by any means, but it wasn't the worst pain that she had been faced with. It was tolerable, albeit very inconvenient.

As the embarrassment of her irrational panic began to fade, Itachi was soon faced with another problem all together. How was she going to clean up the mess that now not only covered the bed, but stained the carpet, too? The poor hotel owners were going to think a murder had been committed right under their noses.

With a sigh, Itachi resigned to simply taking the sheets with her and burning them as she and Kisame left the town. As for the carpet, she could try her best to scrub out the redness that had already seeped into the roots of the rug, but that was about all.

And then the door that joined her room with Kisame's swung inwards, and Itachi wasn't alone.

Itachi wasn't one who was prone to self-consciousness, so having people see her naked wasn't that big of a deal. She was just another body, she figured. And not much of a body to look at, either, she added in her head.

Itachi was all lean muscle and sporty physique, her hips a small bump at her sides instead of the voluptuous, child-bearing kind that seemed to attract most men. Her chest had developed some since she had first joined the Akatsuki, but not by any great degree. The smallest of cup sizes would probably be a bit too large for her breasts, so she opted not to wear a bra at all. But nevertheless, there was no mistaking that she was female once her clothes were out of the way.

The baggy pants and undershirt that Itachi chose to ware beneath her coat concealed a great deal. The Illusionist had never intended to hide her gender with her clothes. It just so happened that she never developed as prominently as she should have, and most anything she wore didn't do her slight figure any justice.

Appearance meant very little to Itachi, so the fact that she had a rather boyish shape about her didn't phase her in the slightest. She had long outgrown any type of pre-teen narcissism that had lingered within her at one point and now concentrated herself on other things. What good would a shapely figure do her, anyway? In the end, she would still be the same person, in the same place, doing the same thing.

And right then, Itachi was standing naked and bleeding in the middle of her hotel room, calmly watching Kisame with her wise, red eyes as he gaped at her from across the room.

Her legs still spread to prevent feeling the sticky unpleasantness that was still seeping out of her, Itachi slowly straightened her spine a bit and waited for Kisame to say something. But the swordsman only blinked at her in shock, eyes darting between the bloodied bed, her crimson coated legs, and her relaxed expression, which was the only thing she wore. The only movement he made was with his jaw as he opened and closed it numerous times, trying to form words. He looked like a fish gasping for breath that way, and the comparison amused Itachi slightly, though not enough to greatly sway her expression.

When it was apparent that Kisame wasn't going to speak anytime soon, Itachi broke the silence for him.

"Kisame," the Uchiha began, voice as smooth and controlled as ever, "I seem to have started my first period. I'm going to be needing the basic equipment for dealing with the blood loss. Run down to the market and buy two boxes of whatever feminine product catches your eye first." She really didn't care what it was, as long as it would prevent her from dirtying her clothes.

She easily assumed that the reason for his intrusion was to ask her when they would leave, so she quickly explained their exit plan. "I'm going to take a long shower and clean up in here. Leave whatever you bring me here on the nightstand and wait for me outside of town on the north side. I'll be there to join you in departure shortly."

Kisame blinked in response, mouth still agape. Itachi took that as a very bleak 'sure thing'.

Itachi felt Kisame's eyes following her movements as she walked, tall and proud and _naked_, into the restroom. She shut the door behind herself and turned to ready her shower, not bothering with the lock on the bathroom door. It really didn't matter if Kisame walked in on her now. He had already seen her naked, so there was no point in taking precaution to conceal herself from someone who had seen her as such.

What an odd way for Kisame to discover that the male partner that he thought he had been stuck with for six years was actually female. Itachi had always wondered if the man would discover this fact at all, and if so, when? And how? Knowing that, at last, the man knew her true gender put Itachi in a sort of easy state of mind. It was good to have someone else that knew she was a woman.

Itachi waited until she heard Kisame's feet shuffling over the carpet as he exited the room, and then for the click as the door closed behind him. Good. At least he would go and get her what she needed from the market; he wouldn't dare to disobey her orders, so the possessing of the items she needed was as good as done.

Knowing this, Itachi nodded once to herself and stepped beneath the hot water of the shower, watching vacantly as the blood on her legs was washed away. It created a red whirlpool as it descended slowly down the drain in the shower.

Strange, thought Itachi as she watched the red water slowly clear up, that I just now started a menstrual cycle. Surely this all should have started years ago.

Itachi's eyes narrowed at the idea that something was not quite right about her internally, but she soon brushed off the idea as acute paranoia. She was just on edge after waking up to such a bloody surprise, is all. Heaving a sigh, Itachi shut her eyes as she basked beneath the warm water from her shower.

And as she bathed, her mind continued to present only one single thought to her that early morning in June: What an odd way to wake up on my birthday.

**..::..**

**:D**

**And there you have it! Puberty!Fem!Itachi! xD What a fantastic combination all around, eh?**

**Well, I'm at BK at the moment and I'm pretty sure that I'm leaving in a few. In short, I hope that you all enjoyed the story. And of course, don't forget to click that little button down there and leave me a review! ;D  
**


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